In The Meantime
by Lur27
Summary: ONE SHOT. Last minutes of STILL from Castle's POV.


**A/N:** Hey guys, it's been a while. I hope you're all doing good.

This was STILL people! Amazing ep and ovbviously a gift to the fans. This is my little take on what we've seen tonight. I'm not exactly happy with it, but well, had to let it out. ENJOY!

* * *

**In The Meantime**

He didn't stop walking when he reached the street. His feet kept moving on their own accord until he entered that diner they had been talking about a few hours before, when he was so absolutely certain that nothing of this would be true and his only worries were about how long they had to wait until they could be there, tasting their delicious goat cheese omelets. His eyes roamed the lounge, as he tried to decide what to do next.

The people, waiting in line for their coffee orders, started staring at him. He was just standing there, obstructing the entrance; taking shallow breaths, with his blue, watery eyes wide open, trying to keep the tears from falling.

It was all too much to digest in such a short period of time. He had left her there a mere two minutes ago, her '_I love you'_ still burnt in his skin, and he refused to believe that it was the last time he'd ever hear those words coming out of her mouth. He couldn't believe that was the last time he would ever see her. That was not how this was to end. That was not the way they lost their match with death.

He had it all planned. They would get married, maybe next year, when he gathered the courage to ask her to move in and offer her the ring he bought after his birthday party, the moment he understood she was all in. They would have a couple of kids, raise them to become the perfect mix of their virtues and then, maybe in 40 or 50 years, one of them would die, preferably him. It would be painful, the worst thing that they would ever have to bear, but they would have all those years of memories; all that time together to hold onto.

Yes. That was how it was supposed to happen, not 11 months after they got together, blown up by a crazy man seeking revenge.

A young woman opened the door, bumping into him as she tried to enter the diner.

"Sorry." She apologized. "Are you in line?"

Castle blinked the tears away, nodded and moved forward, hands in his pockets.

Coffee. That was exactly what they needed.

* * *

His mind raced as he walked back to the building. She was going to kill him. He had promised to leave. Get out of there and leave her alone to die. How could she think he'd be ok with that? They were partners, in more than one sense now, they had faced death together so many times that it was hard to count them all. This time was not going to be any different. He had to be there with her till the very end. He needed to.

He had to fight Captain Mahoney to get back into the building. After a few seconds of bickering he got tired of wasting time, so he yanked the detonator from the man's hand and dared him to stop him.

"You can't do anything now. Let _me_ try."

Mahoney nodded and turned to his men, ordering them to take their stuff and get out of the building as fast as they could.

* * *

His heart jumped when he walked into the room and found her staring at the ceiling. She was resigned to die, and it felt like a punch in the gut.

If this was it, if these were their last moments together, he had to make them count. He had to make sure they went down fighting.

Coming closer to her, he took a deep breath and talked, hoping not to startle her too badly. "Hey! What are you doing? Napping? Cause I can come back later."

Her face was of pure terror, but he was absolutely certain that it had nothing to do with _her_ being about to die.

_Rick! I love you._

Her eyes pierced his. "Castle, what are you doing here? You promised."

"Yeah, I promised I'd leave, but I didn't promise I wouldn't come back." He replied nonchalantly. "Got coffee." He added, showing her the paper cups. "For later, when you're off that thing."

"No Castle, please. You have to leave now. There's no reason for both of us to die."

"Oh, I didn't come here to die. I came here to defuse the bomb. There's still a chance."

She couldn't believe his stupidity. Bravery. Whatever it was that made him act the way he did. He could see it in her eyes. "Yes. A one in one hundred thousand chance."

Was she really trying to reason with him? _Oh, Kate… After five years? Seriously?_

"Great. While there's still a chance, I'm not giving up."

"Castle, listen to me. I've already come to peace with this. And that doesn't include Alexis losing her father or Martha her son." She pleaded again.

"Come on! What am I supposed to do?" He asked almost offended. "Walk out the door while you're standing all the way over there by yourself?"

Her eyes opened wide, begging. "Yes! Yes, that's exactly…"

Something clicked in his head. It made no sense. There was something out of place.

"Wait a second. Why are you standing all the way over there? If Fosse set the bomb for the cops, why not… Why not set it by the door so they hit is as they came in. Unless…"

The theory building begun and that made things easier. Time went faster, which was both a good and a bad thing. Thank goodness, the boys were there to save the day, helping them find the last piece of the puzzle.

**xxxxx**

He watched as the last second went by on the timer of the detonator, his breath caught deep in his lungs, expectant, waiting for a blast that never came.

"Castle." Came Kate's voice, almost inaudible. Broken.

He held her close, breathing her in, the musky scent of sweat and fear flooding his senses. She was safe, she was alive and she was his.

"I got you." He whispered softly in her ear. "I got you."

* * *

As soon as they were able to let go of each other, they walked down the three flights of stairs, Kate still hooked to his arm, not ready to lose contact with him just yet.

Once outside, she turned to look at him. "Hey, Castle. Listen. Thank you for staying with me." She said, almost shyly.

He looked at her in the eyes, trying to compel all the love, trust and devotion he felt for her in that instant and pronounced the only word that made sense for them in moments like this . "Always."

* * *

**HUGE twin hugs to my girls, CastleWriter16 and Tshlw, who helped me with this. You are awesome, guys. Love you!**

**Thoughts? **


End file.
